Galway GAA

Clubs contest the Galway Senior Football Championship.

Corofin have five All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championships.

Despite having represented the province a number of times by default, it wasn't until 1911, that Galway earned the right to call themselves full Connacht champions, when the Tribesmen defeated Roscommon by a single point on a score of 1-03 to 1-02. They were beaten by Cork in the semi finals, losing by 3-4 to 0-2. Galway were also Connacht champions in 1913 and 1917, without winning their semi-finals, but the 1919 championship saw them reach their first ever All-Ireland final. After beating Cavan 4-2 to 2-2 in the replay of their semi-final, the Tribesmen lost the final by 2-5 to 0-1, against Kildare.

Galway won their first ever title in the 1925 championship. The championship has become known for the farcical manner in which the play-offs took place. The Connacht final was not held in time to produce a team to play the other three provinces in the semi-finals. Mayo, the previous season's Connacht champions were nominated to represent the province. Mayo beat Wexford in their semi-final, while Kerry beat Cavan in the other semi-final. However, both Kerry and Cavan were disqualified for fielding illegal players. Mayo were declared champions without the need for a final. However, in the meantime, Galway defeated Mayo in the Connacht final, which caused confusion. The nomination of Mayo to represent Connacht was withdrawn, and Galway were declared rightful Connacht champions and All-Ireland champions.

This was deemed unsatisfactory, however, and the GAA ordered the semi-finals to be replayed, with Galway taking the place of Connacht champions. However, Kerry complained that their semi-final victory over Cavan should stand. When the GAA insisted that it should not stand due to the disqualifications Kerry withdrew, leaving Cavan to automatically proceed to the final. Galway defeated Cavan in the final. The farce went on so long that the final was not played until 10 January 1926. In the end Cavan, despite having previously been disqualified, finished with a silver medal, Mayo, despite having previously been declared champions, were eliminated, and Galway, despite having previously been removed from the tournament, were champions. Officially there wasn't any championship in 1925.

Their next title came under more straightforward circumstances, in 1934. They beat Dublin 3-5 to 1-9 in the final to take the Sam Maguire Cup to Connacht for the first time since it was originally presented to the winning team in 1928. Four years later in the 1938 championship, Galway claimed their third football All-Ireland. The final with Kerry had to replayed after it finished level at 3-3 to 2-6, but the Tribesmen won the replay 2-4 to 0-7. Title number four came nearly twenty years later when Galway beat Cork 2-13 to 3-7 in the 1956 final in Croke Park.

Galway and Down in action in the 1965 National League semi-final

1966 was perhaps Galway's most successful year in football. Their Connacht campaign began in Castlebar against Roscommon, Galway winning, by a score of 1–11 to 0–5. In the final, the Tribesmen came up against Mayo in Castlebar and were fortunate to win, edging Mayo out by a single point with a final score of 0–12 to 1–8. The semi-final win over Cork was a close affair as Johnny Geraghty made two wondrous saves from Niall Fitzgerald in the second half. Galway eked out a win 1–11 to 1–9 with Jimmy Duggan again outstanding and Coleen McDonagh fitting in well and Cyril Dunne (1–7) best in attack. Meath defeated Down in the other semi-final and were firm favourites to beat Galway in the final. Galway travelled as a united front to the final and pulverized Meath to win comfortably by 1–10 to 0–7. That victory sealed a memorable "3 In A Row" of All-Ireland titles.

Galway won five Connacht titles in the 1980s, but qualified for only one All-Ireland final. The team did come close to making the final at the expense of eventual All Ireland champions Offaly in 1982, leading for most of the 1982 All Ireland semi-final, before succumbing to a point from Brendan Lowry. The one final the team did qualify for in the decade was in 1983, where they came up against Dublin, in a match now infamous for foul play and thuggery. After an undisciplined beginning to the game, Barney Rock scored a bizarre goal from 40 yards after a poor free-out from Galway goalkeeper Padraig Coyne. The Galway players protested, claiming the goal should not have stood, due to Dublin manager Kevin Heffernan interfering with play as he attended to the injured Joe McNally, but the goal stood. Not long after, following a tussle in midfield, Dublin's Brian Mullins swung back his arm and connected with Brian Talty and the referee decided to send Mullins off. Shortly before half-time a number of players clashed beneath the Hogan Stand, leading referee John Gough to send off a player from each side, Dublin's Ray Hazley and Galway's Tomás Tierney. The match remained heated until half-time. Players from both sides clashed in the tunnel as they left the field for the break, and although rumours circulated for years about the incident, whatever happened in the tunnel, stayed in the tunnel. Whatever peace had the time apart may have brought completely disappeared five minutes after the restart, with the dismissal of Kieran Duff of Dublin after he kicked Galway’s Pat O’Neill while he was on the ground. This left Dublin with 12 men on the field to Galway's 14. Galway, however, could not make their two-man advantage count and ultimately lost 1-10 to 1-8. In the aftermath of the match, Galway players Tomás Tierney and Peter Lee were given one month bans, while four individuals from the Dublin team received bans including a 12-month ban to Duff, for the kick to O'Neill's head, and a 3-month ban to manager Heffernan.[8]

In the 1998 championship, led by Mayo-born manager John O'Mahony, Galway won their first round encounter with Mayo, before overcoming Leitrim by 1-16 to 0-05 in the semi-final. The first final ended as a draw, 11 points apiece with Roscommon, but Galway won the replay in Hyde Park. In the semis, Galway came up against Ulster champions Derry, and won by 0-16 to 1-09. In the final the team faced a Kildare team that had just beaten the previous year's champions, Kerry, and were coached by 8 time All-Ireland winning manager Mick O'Dwyer. Galway went into the final as underdogs,[9] but outstanding performances from Ja Fallon and Michael Donnellan in that match, along with a superbly taken goal from a young Padraig Joyce, helped Galway overcome the Lilywhites by 1-14 to 1-10. Captain Ray Silke lifted the Sam Maguire, and Galway became the first Connacht team in 32 years to win an All-Ireland title.

Galway made a strong start to the new millennium. After beating Leitrim in the Connacht final, Galway faced Kildare in the semi-final, winning by 0-15 to 2-6 to progress to the final, with Pádraic Joyce scoring 7 of Galway's points.[10] Galway's opponents in the final were a Kerry team managed by eight time All-Ireland winning player, Páidí Ó Sé. Galway came from behind to draw level with Kerry at 0-14 each, putting the game through to a replay. In the replay, however, Galway were beaten by four points, with a final score of 0-17 to 1-10.

Galway came back the following year, however. Due to rule changes in the 2001 season, a qualifier round was introduced to allow teams eliminated from their provincial championship to make it through to the latter stages of the competition. Galway were forced to make use of this new 'back door' after they were knocked out of the Connacht championship in the semi-finals by Roscommon. Galway were put into Round 3 of the qualifiers, where they came up against Armagh. After a hard fought match Galway came out as winners on a scoreline of just 0-13 to 0-12, Paul Clancy scoring the winning point.[11] After that, Galway faced beaten Munster finalists Cork in Round 4, who they beat by a score of 1-14 to 1-10 to qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

In the quarters, the team came up against Roscommon, the team that had knocked them into the qualifiers to begin with. Galway made use of their second chance, beating the Rossies by 0-14 to 1-05, to qualify for a semi-final against fellow 'back door' team Derry. Galway came out on top in the semi-final, beating the northerners by three points to qualify for the All-Ireland final, thus becoming the first team to qualify for an All-Ireland final without being champions of their own province. They went into the final as massive underdogs, however, as their opponents Meath had beaten the previous year's champions Kerry 2-14 to 0-05, and had limited Kerry to a single point in the second half.[12][13] Things did not work out as expected for Meath fans however, and after going in level at the break at 6 points apiece, Galway came out after half-time and blew Meath away, scoring 11 second half points to Meath's 2, giving a final score of 0-17 to 0-08. Pádraic Joyce alone scored 10 points in the final to take his tally to 3-45 in eight games, and finished the season as the Championship's top scorer. This time it was Gary Fahey who lifted the Sam Maguire, giving the Tribesmen their second All-Ireland win in four years, and making Galway the first ever 'back door' champions.

Clubs contest the Galway Senior Hurling Championship.

Galway clubs took three successive All-Ireland titles in 1992–94 and Athenry three in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

Padraig Mannion in action for Galway in their recent win over All-Ireland Champions Kilkenny in the 2015 Allianz Hurling League.

The crest of the Galway hurlers until a new design was introduced in 2013

Galway were runners up in the first All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, losing to Tipperary in the 1887 final. The team did not reach another final in the competition until the 1923 Championship. In the 1923 final, Galway defeated Limerick, to become champions for the first time in their history. The team made it to the final four more times in that decade, appearing in 1924, 1925, 1928 and 1929 deciders, but lost on each occasion.

Galway continued to come up short in the Championship, and by the time the team lost three finals in a decade being runners up in 1953, 1955 and again in 1958, it had been 35 years since their only triumph. Like many counties that had previously experienced success before enduring a lengthy spell without titles, Galway became the subject of rumours of a curse, as has also happened to Mayo in football and Clare in hurling. In 1969 Connacht reached the final of the interprovincial Railway Cup for the first time in ten years with a team drawn primarily from Galway, and held Munster to a draw before being beaten in the replay, and this boosted the game in the county. However, a disastrous All-Ireland campaign followed for Galway, with the team losing to London in the 1969 championship and the following year Connacht lost at home to Ulster in the preliminary round of the 1970 Railway Cup, running up 20 wides. By the time the Galway hurlers were heavily beaten in 1975 and 1979 finals the curse was part of folklore.

In 1980 Castlegar won the All-Ireland Club Championship, while Connacht beat Munster in that year's Railway Cup final, bringing a measure of success back to Galway. In the 1980 championship, the team was managed by Cyril Farrell. Due to the lack of competition for Galway in Connacht, the team's first match of the season came against Kildare in the quarter-final round, a game which Galway won comfortably on a score of 5–15 to 1–11. From there the team faced Offaly, the Leinster champions, in the semi-final. Galway overcame Offaly by two points on a scoreline of 4–9 to 3–10 to qualify for the decider. Galway faced Limerick in the final. Galway came out on top in a close game that saw five goals scored to win the All-Ireland by 2-15 to 3-9. Captain Joe Connolly became the first Galway man to lift the Liam MacCarthy since Mick Kenny in 1923.

The 1987 championship saw Galway qualify for their third final in a row, after defeats in the finals of 1985 and 1986 final. Still managed by Farrell, Galway overcame Tipperary by 3-20 to 2-17 to make it to the decider. Captained by Conor Hayes and inspired by the young Joe Cooney, who scored five points on the day, Galway defeated Kilkenny by 1-12 to 0-09 in the final. Cooney was named Hurler of the Year for his performances at the age of just 22. They defeated Tipperary in the 1988 final to win their fourth ever All-Ireland and retain their title for the first time.

For the 2009 Hurling Championship, Galway played in the Leinster Championship, starting a trial period of three years there.

Under Anthony Cunningham and his helpers Mattie Coleman and Tom Helebert, Galway reached a Leinster Final against Kilkenny in 2012 after wins over Westmeath and Offaly. Still, many felt that Kilkenny would easily beat Galway. But, it wasn't to be. Galway produced a massive upset, beating Galway lifted their first Bob O'Keefe Cup ever. The road didn't stop there. After a slow first half, Galway held off a strong Cork team in the All-Ireland Semi-final. Galway were matched with Kilkenny again for the All-Ireland final. Joe Canning's 10th-minute goal got Galway rolling and they led by 5 at half time: 1-9 to 0-7. Kilkenny, however, were able to fight back. A Henry Shefflin point taken from the penalty spot separated the sides late in the game but, with 30 seconds left, Davy Glennon was fouled and Joe Canning scored from the free putting the All-Ireland Hurling Final to a replay for the first time in 53 years. In the replay however, Kilkenny overpowered Galway, with a final score of 3-22 to 3-11.

A 2012 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship winners' medal was later sold on eBay for €570.[14]